Whiteface and Esther to close out the winter 46 hiking season, and a day after birthday hike.

The trails are a mixed bag.  I decided to keep things easy so I went up via the road... adds 2 miles but it's not steep at all so much easier overall.  A little bit after the toll booth, I put on the snowshoes as I was starting to sink into the snow and ice.  

Sorry to say this skiers, the road has everything including a lot of bare pavement (or just barely iced over pavement).  There were also spots with 4 foot high drifts.  Unfortunately for me, the hike up was in the morning, and all the views were of cloud.  I got to the "Wilmington Turn" and briefly considered going up the trail for the last half mile, but the wind was so hard on the road, so I decided to play it safe and go up the road.  Dropped the pack at the castle, changed over to spikes and walked up the stairs, feeling grateful that I had railings to keep me from blowing away.  I made it to the top to absolutely glorious views of cloud.  Thankfully I've been up before in good weather, but still sucks.

I grabbed my picture and went down the stairs, switched back to the shoes, and started heading down the road.  In that short time it took me to go up the stairs (maybe 15 minutes total), my tracks on the road were all but gone.  I get to the turn, and joined the trail.  The first little bit along the road is all boulders, so I didn't expect it to be that good.  Once I turned into the trees, I saw what someone said a couple days ago.  The trail is in bad condition.

The trail is heavily post holed and the monorail is 2 feet wide in some spots and 4 inches wide in others.  Some of the post holes are sprung spruce traps, so they're deep, but they're only the size of a boot.  I honestly don't know how people get any enjoyment hiking like that.  It's perfectly legal there though as these 2 mountains are not in the High Peaks Wilderness, so there is no snowshoe requirement.

On the way down to the Esther herd path, I noticed the Lookout Mountain lift was not running, and the snow on the trail you cross 2 times was thin.  I know they were open today, and saw other lifts running when I drove by on my way into Placid.  I guess the season really is coming to a close.

Then I get to the Esther herd path and see someone had come up on the trail.  4 people actually, and all in spikes.  I passed them on the herd path and to be honest, they weren't causing any real damage to the trail, but I did notice that there was slipping even with spikes, and they were sinking many inches in for blown in areas.  There was also a small area that was basically a trap on the way up where there must be water under the snow and everything was soft.  At least by the time I got to the top, the sun was out, and the views were good.

Then it was more of the same on the way out to Marble Mountain.  Passed another 2 just in spikes.  There were a couple icy areas that navigating around in shoes was interesting.  Finally, the top of Marble Mountain is bare.  I almost switched to spikes, but the trail down was softening in the afternoon sun, so I kept shoes on to the bottom of the mountain.  There were a couple ice spots, and some soft spots where water was flowing, but nothing too bad.  At the bottom, where you join the dirt roads, it's all bare.  Snowshoes came off, and it was that annoying bit of climb out to the car.

So, that's a wrap for me.  13 high peaks this winter (plus a few more in the Catskills) putting me at 26/46.  Maybe next year I can finish my winter round of 46 on my birthday.